Sparrow and Nightingale
by Gilari
Summary: Being the continuing life and adventures of Sally Sparrow and Larry Nightingale, shop owners and alien investigators extraordinaire. Episode one: Sparrow and Nightingale
1. Act One

**Sparrow and Nightingale **

Being the continuing life and adventures of Sally Sparrow and Larry Nightingale, shop owners and alien investigators extraordinaire.

Episode One – Sparrow and Nightingale

Sally watched the retreating back of the Doctor, and thought how strange life was. a year after she had come in contact with a DVD extra he had left her from 1969, she was finally meeting the man. And he was meeting her for the first time! All that wondering how he had gotten the information about the Weeping Angels, and it was her after all.

Larry squeezed her hand, smiling down at her.

"So, that was finally him," he said, after a long moment of silence, in which Sally continued to stare at the place where the Doctor and Martha had vanished into the crowd.

Sally nodded. A slightly hysterical laugh bubbled up from her lips.

"He didn't know me. I was the one who told him about me. My past, his future."

"Wibbly-wobbly," Larry quoted.

Sally laughed, and shook her head.

"What do we do now?"

"Well," said Larry. "We could mind our shop."

Sally looked back at the front of their shop, and then nodded.

Larry put his arm around her shoulder, and guided her to the door.

----

"Sally?"

Sally looked up from her inventory.

"Larry? I'm back here," she called.

Larry wandered into the store room.

"Do you want something to eat?" he asked. "I've got some sandwiches."

Sally stretched, and Larry's eyes wandered to where her shirt rode up on her hips. He quickly looked away.

"How's the inventory coming?" he asked.

Sally smiled, and took a sandwich from the plate he held.

"Not bad. Not bad at all. We're doing alright for orders, and our suppliers for rare DVDs are steady."

"Good," Larry said. "We've had a couple of people in the store this morning, and our online sales are doing pretty well."

Sally grinned.

"Looks like we got ourselves a business, Mr. Nightingale."

"Looks like," Larry said. He smiled at her, and was suddenly aware of how close they were standing to each other. Sally realized it at the same moment that he did, and looked away, awkwardly. Larry opened his mouth to say something, but just then a bell tinkled, indicating that someone had entered the shop.

"I should… ah…." Larry waved his hand, indicating the storefront.

"Um, right," Sally said, turning slightly pink.

Larry moved away, glad to get out of the awkward situation, yet profoundly disappointed. The truth was, he was deeply attracted to Sally, and thought there was the possibility of something more between them. The only trouble was, she seemed skittish every time he brought it up. Girls were weird, he decided as he walked into the shop from the back.

Larry slid in behind the desk, and smiled at the customer.

"Hi," he said.

The man was tall and angular, with a wide mouth and sleek dark hair that was pulled back into a horsetail at the base of his neck. He looked up from his browsing of the shelves, and smiled at Larry.

"You have quite the collection here," he said.

"We specialize in rare DVDs and books," Larry answered.

The man nodded.

"I'm somewhat of a connoisseur myself," he said, his eyes slipping back to the shelves.

"Well, call me if you need anything," Larry said, knowing that he was losing the customer's interest in conversation.

The man nodded absently, and went back to browsing.

-----

Sally walked out of the storage room, dusting her hands off on her jeans. The greatest thing about owning her own shop was that she didn't have to dress up. She usually tried to look nice, but today she knew she would be spending most of her time on her knees in the storage room, so she had worn her oldest, rattiest jeans.

She walked out of the small storage room, and into the back of the shop, where there was a table, a fridge, and a bookshelf filled with catalogues. At the back of the room was a desk with a computer. Sally dropped her clipboard onto the table, and grabbed a glass from off the shelf. She filled the glass with tap water from the sink, and took a long draught.

"Thirsty?" Larry asked, coming up behind her.

She nodded.

"Nothing tastes better than water when you're thirsty," she agreed. She glanced at her watch.

Larry nodded, grabbing his own mug and filling it with coffee before returning to the computer desk.

"Water is for wimps," he quipped. "Real men drink coffee."

"Good thing I'm not a man," Sally laughed. "What're you up to?"

Larry beckoned, and she came to stand behind him. On the computer screen was a website forum, with the words "Egg-stras" written across the top.

"It's the Easter Egg forum that I used to chat on," Larry explained, with a sad look in his eye. "I check it from time to time."

"Don't you ever post anything?" Sally asked.

Larry shook his head.

"I can't, can I? It makes me sort of sad. I know the truth, and I can't share it with them. They're all debating what it means when he talks about the angels on this thread, whether that's a religious statement about Heaven and Hell or not, and I know the truth. I know that he actually means that some angel statues have his actual physical phone box."

"Why don't you just tell them?" Sally asked.

"I thought about that at first," Larry said. "Right after we got back, I couldn't wait to post. I had the other side of the transcript, your part, and I couldn't wait to share it with everybody. But then I realized that I can't just go blabbing it. For one thing, they would think I just made it up. And that would sort of degrade what happened. And for another, I don't think the Doctor likes to be talked about."

"That's it, isn't it?" Sally said with a sad smile. "We know the truth about the Doctor and time travel and all that, and we can't tell anyone."

Larry sighed, and clicked off the site.

"No point in going on there any more, if I can't post. But sometimes I like to check out what's going on."

Sally laid a hand on his shoulder in silent support, and then walked back to the table. She sat down on one of the wooden chairs, and picked up her clipboard. With precision, she began organizing the notes she had just made, putting them into categories and making sure the information was in tidy rows.

Larry let out a yell that startled her, making her draw a crooked line all over her page.

"What?" she asked, a little crossly.

"Sally! You _have_ to come see this!" Larry yelped.

Sally jumped up, and hurried across the room to the computer.

"What?" she demanded.

Larry pointed silently to the screen, and Sally's eyes widened in surprise. On the screen was a blurry photograph of a stern looking man with big ears and a big nose and a leather jacket. At the top, in large black writing it read "Doctor Who?" Underneath it said "Have you seen this man?"

"I googled 'The Doctor', just to see," Larry said, "And this is what came up."

"But, that doesn't look anything like the man we met," Sally objected.

Larry shook his head.

"I know. But there can't be two men who are called the Doctor who save the world on a regular basis, can there?"

"Click on the link," Sally said breathlessly. "Maybe there's more."

Larry clicked on the link at the bottom of the page, and a new screen popped up.

"Look, there he is!" Sally squealed. Under a banner that proclaimed 'Defending the Earth' was a picture of the Doctor they were familiar with, complete with brown pinstripe suit and converses.

"This guy, Mickey Smith, he seems to think our Doctor and the other leather jacket fellow are the same person."

"Is that even possible?" Sally asked.

Larry shrugged.

"I don't know. But then, I didn't used to believe in time travel either."

"True," Sally acknowledged. She grabbed a wooden chair from the table, and pulled it beside Larry. He scooted over so she was better able to see the screen. He clicked on every link, and they slowly read all the information there.

"So this guy, Mickey Smith, figures that the Doctor kidnapped his girlfriend," Larry summed up.

"And he thinks the Doctor is bad news," Sally added.

"Well," said Larry thoughtfully. "He was there for the Weeping Angels thing."

"That was hardly his _fault_," Sally replied.

"Blimey," Larry said, scrolling through the gallery. "There are pictures of this leather jacket Doctor everywhere. On the Titanic. In World War Two. With Charles Dickens?"

Sally smiled.

"Time traveler," she said, the words sounding strange and foreign on her tongue.

Larry shook his head in wonder.

"We really are part of something bigger, Sal. We're just two of hundreds of people whose lives have been touched by the Doctor."

"He travels around in space and time and rescues people."

"Although," said Larry. "You could argue that we rescued him."

Sally smiled.

-----

"You still looking at that website, Sally?" Larry asked. He had found it two days ago, and Sally was still going through all the old logs. "You're getting obsessive again."

Sally sighed, and stood up from the computer, stretching her arms above her head.

"You're right. Sorry," she said. She knew she had a tendency to focus too much on things, like when she had obsessively gathered information about the Weeping Angels for a year after they had sent the Doctor's phone box back to him.

Larry shook his head at her, and continued to look out the front window of their shop, cupping his coffee mug in one hand while holding the handle with the other. Business in the store had been particularly slow today.

Sally came to stand beside him, leaning towards him a little. Larry took advantage of her nearness, and placed an arm gingerly around her shoulder. He nearly held his breath, hoping that she wouldn't shy away.

Sally didn't shy. In fact, she smiled at him and leaned in more, looking dreamily out the window. The sky was a beautiful clear, cloudless blue and the afternoon sun was shining brightly, but Larry wasn't looking at that. He was too busy admiring Sally, the way she smelled like strawberry shampoo and the way the sun glinted off her golden hair.

Suddenly, Sally jerked away from him.

"Did you see that?" she asked.

Larry looked away from her quickly.

"See what?" he asked.

"That streak in the sky. Look!"

Sally pointed out the tall store front window, up into the sky. A bright streak of something was leaving a white trail across the clear blue of the sky.

"Were we expecting a meteor shower today?" Larry asked.

"I don't think so. What is that?" Sally asked.

They watched the object as it made its descent. It careened closer and closer to the earth, and then disappeared into the tree line.

"Wow," Sally breathed. "That's really close to us!"

"Yeah," said Larry, his curiosity roused. "I bet we could find it if we looked."

"It looks like it landed in the direction of Wester Drumlins," Sally said. Her eyes were shining with mischief, and the corners of her mouth were pulling up in a smile.

Larry looked at her with growing alarm. This plan was getting away from him.

"No," he said, anticipating her question. "No, absolutely not."

Sally turned to him, her beautiful face pleading.

"Come on! We should go check it out!"

"No," Larry reaffirmed. "The last time we went near that house we nearly got killed. Those _things_ are still in the basement. There's no way we're going back."

"Are you chicken?" Sally goaded.

"We're _not_ going back there," Larry answered, a little weakly.

"Yes we are," Sally said briskly, pulling at his arm. "Come on! Don't you want to know what that was? We can close up the shop early. Let's go." She was tugging on his arm and smiling her best, most charming smile. "Where's your sense of adventure?"

Larry felt himself caving.

_Author's Note: Yay, I've finally actually started this!! This is going to be a 13 episode season of the spin-off Doctor Who series "Sparrow and Nightingale". Each episode will have 5 acts (chapters) just like a real episode. _

_Seriously, I can't believe this isn't a spin off already! If Sarah Jane and Jack get their own show, Sally and Larry should too. Sally was as good as any real companion, don't you think? _


	2. Act Two

Larry looked up at the gates of Wester Drumlins with trepidation.

"This is a bad idea," he said.

Sally laughed.

"I love this old house, in spite of everything."

Larry sighed, slowly drove the car forward.

"Can you open the gates?" he asked.

Sally nodded, and hopped out of the car. The gates were supposed to be locked, but she had picked the lock a year ago, and the padlock was still open. She slid the chain off of the gate, and opened it.

Larry waited till she was back in the car, then drove forward. The house was just as old and spooky as ever. He didn't see what Sally saw in it. Even in the bright afternoon sunshine the house managed to look menacing as it loomed over him.

Sally bounced out of the car and grinned.

"Oh I missed this place," she said with a sigh.

"Despite the weeping angels in the basement?" Larry quipped.

"Yes, despite those," she agreed happily.

Larry just shrugged.

"But we're not going down to visit them or anything, right?"

Sally shuddered.

"Of course not! They tried to kill us, remember?"

"Oh, I remember," Larry replied. In truth, the memory was much more vivid than he was willing to admit. He often had nightmares about the stone angels that would move whenever he wasn't looking at them, even if he so much as blinked.

"What do you say we start by looking around the garden?" Sally asked. "This place doesn't look it, but it has quite a bit of land attached."

"I think we'd know if that thing crashed into the house," Larry replied, looking at the building. It seemed as though it were intact, but then you never knew.

Sally nodded absently. She began walking towards the garden at the back of the house, and Larry followed. He had a feeling this was a really bad idea, but he couldn't exactly let Sally go by herself, could he?

The garden was overgrown and tangled, but it must have been quite pretty at one time. A brick path wound its way over a small hill and disappeared around some trees. Sally began walking on it, her shoes making footsteps in the eerie quiet.

"How much land do you figure this house has?" she asked.

Larry shrugged.

"Maybe a couple of acres?"

Sally nodded, and continued walking. She followed the path around the corner past the trees, and then stopped dead. Larry, coming up behind her, couldn't stop in time, and crashed into her back. The momentum sent them both sprawling.

"Ow!" complained Sally, rubbing her arm.

"Sorry! Sorry!" apologized Larry in a rush, struggling to get off of her, and trying to ignore her close proximity all of the sudden. He offered her his hand, and pulled her to her feet.

It was only then that he saw what had made her stop in the first place.

They hadn't been able to see the crater before because of the grove of trees. But when they came out into what should have been a peaceful meadow, the crater with the chunk of shining metal was obvious.

"Wow," Larry breathed. "We really did find a UFO!"

"Could be a piece of a satellite that's broken off," Sally said.

Larry made a face at her.

"You'll concede time travelers but you won't concede UFO's?"

Sally laughed.

"UFOs are so cliché," she answered.

Larry shook his head, staring in wonder at what was before them.

"This is so CIA," he said. "I wonder if a secret government organization is going to turn up and wipe our memories of this."

"It's huge," Sally breathed. "What do you say we split up and explore? That way we can cover more ground."

"What are we looking for?" asked Larry, who didn't much like the idea of splitting up.

Sally shrugged.

"Anything really. Anything interesting. Maybe the Doctor will show up again," she added hopefully.

"You like him, don't you?" Larry teased, ignoring the stab of jealousy that spread through him. "He's a right handsome bloke."

"If you like that sort of thing," Sally said with a shrug. "I'll go this way, and you go the other. Shout if you find anything."

Larry nodded his assent, and Sally headed off, a huge smile spreading over her face.

It wasn't that she wasn't contented with her shop, because really she was. She liked owning her tiny shop with Larry and doing inventory and dealing with customers and living in her tiny flat. It's just that she had missed the rush of adrenaline that came with adventures. She had missed the breathtaking excitement of discovering something new. Granted, last time that something had been trying to kill her. But this time nothing was threatening her. It was as safe an adventure as something could be while still being an adventure.

And Larry might be right, after all. It might be an alien space ship. After a time traveler, Sally could believe anything. Of course, she wasn't about to tell Larry that. His tastes ran more to the cliché and obviously fringe than hers did.

Her eyes trailed along the strange object, which was lodged in the ground. It was a dark metal, deeply scratched and pitted, and too hot to touch. Sally could feel its heat when she hovered her hand over its surface. It didn't seem to have any doors or windows, just a smooth, unbroken surface.

Sally continued to walk along side the thing, carefully examining it. She stopped short when she came to an opening that looked as though it had been clawed apart. Bits of wire and other machinery were strewn along the metal grating inside, and sparks were still periodically flying out of the consol at the far end.

"Ahah," Sally said to herself. "This is interesting."

Hesitantly, she made her way towards the opening. The floor was littered with debris, and she had to be careful as she stepped inside. A little voice in her head was telling her that this was a very bad idea, but she was ignoring it.

With careful steps, she made her way to the consoles, being careful to avoid the sparks. They were a little higher than waist high, with black screens to show that they weren't operational. Frayed wires and cables poked out from the bottom of them, so Sally avoided getting any closer.

Whipping out her camera from her bag, she began to take pictures of everything around her. So wrapped up was she in recording everything, that she didn't feel the strong arms that gripped her from behind.

-----

Larry shook his head as Sally disappeared around the corner. That girl had more independence than any other girl he knew. It made everything difficult with her; yet somehow it was one of his favorite things about her. She wanted to do everything on her own. It was a wonder she had let him help her start up her shop.

He chuckled quietly to himself, and started walking around the UFO. It couldn't be anything else _other than_ a UFO, could it? It looked like a ship, and it fell from the sky. How could Sally deny it?

Larry grinned like a kid in a candy store. They had found a UFO. This was so cool! He wondered what kind of engine was in this thing. The outer surface of the hull, as he walked around it, was deeply pitted. More evidence of UFO's – it had been hit by meteorites. As Larry rounded the corner, he paused and then grinned at the sight before him.

"Bingo," he muttered. Strewn around the area close to the ship were all sorts of broken and twisted technology. Larry bent down and picked a bit up, its lights still blinking tiredly.

"Cool," he said, slipping it into his pocket. He didn't know what he was going to use that bit for, but you never knew.

That gave him an idea. With a glint in his eye, he began to go through the rubble.

-------

Strong arms incased Sally in an iron grip. She struggled, trying valiantly to wrench herself away from the vice-like hold that she was caught in, but it did no good.

"Let me go!" she yelled.

"Xyrsodlghgh slakjdfsdf," said a voice behind her. A tall woman with a long brown leather coat and black knee-high boots over her tight beige pantaloons stepped into view.

Sally blinked. Had her ears just gone on the fritz or was that woman speaking in another language?

"Weljlkhasdf als aslkdj skdhre lojuiojnf," answered a rumbling voice directly behind her ear. It must have been the one that was holding her.

"Juendse dkfj euenhd sd we a dlkfje. Asdlkjf wdnge ounfs?" asked the woman.

"I'm sorry, I don't understand," Sally said. "Please let me go."

A look of comprehension came into the woman's face. She nodded to a man with round blue tinted glasses who came up beside her.

"Hueg drygefrd slkdr asdkrjef," she said.

"Dkfhedn," answered the man, pulling something out of the pocket of his jacket. It was a small, rectangular box, plain and reflective. It caught the light and Sally was blinded for a moment. When she opened her eyes, the man with the glasses was much closer to her, and he was opening the box.

"Urgurngd sldkjed," he said in a soothing voice. Out of the box he pulled a small, metal thing. And he was getting closer.

Sally began to struggle again.

"No," she said. "Let me go. I just want to go. I was just curious. I'm sorry, I'll leave."

The man was looming over her now, his wide smile showing off all of his gleaming white teeth.

"What are you going to do with that?" Sally demanded, eyeing the thing in his hand. "Stay away from me!"

"Kuerhn rerfndd sldk," the man said.

The arms behind Sally shifted, and her head was forced to tilt.

With horror, Sally realized what they were going to do. They were going to put that _thing_ in her ear.

She struggled with all her might, but the arms behind her held her firmly in place.

"No! No! Help!" Sally screamed.

----

Larry was walking briskly back to the sight of all the rubble, his hands in his pockets. He had done a good day's work, and Sally would be proud of him. He thought idly of rushing to find her and tell her all about it, and then thought better of it. He would keep it a secret, and she would be totally surprised. The thought of Sally's surprised and delighted face made him smile, and he almost started whistling.

Almost.

At that moment, a scream ripped the air. Larry stopped dead in his tracks. He knew that scream anywhere. It was Sally.

He took off at a dead run.

-----

The man with the glasses forced the small object into Sally's ear. It slithered down her eat canal in a horrible, wet, oozing sensation. It made Sally feel sick to her stomach. Then there was a sudden sharp burst of pain, and…

And then it was over. Sally felt fine. The arms released their grip on her, and she was able to stand straight. Immediately her hands flew to her ear, trying to grab the thing and fish it out. It was _horrible_. She felt so _violated_.

"What _was_ that?" she demanded. "What have you done to me?"

"Yerndmf werd – just fine Captain," said the man with the round glasses.

Sally blinked. Had she just understood him?

"Good," said the woman, tossing a strand of curly dark hair off of her shoulder. "At least we'll have no more communication problems. You can let her go now, Brenner."

There was a rumble of assent behind Sally, and she felt the present behind her shift.

"Are you sure, Captain?" asked a very deep voice.

The Captain smiled.

"She won't run. At least, not yet."

There was movement behind her, and into Sally's view stepped a towering man, at least six and a half feet tall with bulging muscles. His head was bald, and in his ear was a gold earring. He peered at her suspiciously.

"What have you done to me?" Sally asked shakily.

"Oh good, it's working," said the Captain.

Sally glared at her.

"What was that?" she asked again.

"You should thank me. I've just given you the one thing you'll need to succeed as a scavenger around here. A babblefish."

"A what?" Sally asked.

"A babblefish," cut in a small, rather twitchy looking young man with eyes that darted all over the room. "It's a small device that takes in foreign sound waves and spits out ones that your brain can understand. It's how we can be talking to each other."

"You gave me a translator," Sally summed up.

"Exactly," said the twitchy youth, with a smile. Sally felt that under other circumstances, she actually could have liked this boy.

"I can't believe you didn't have one already," said a small, pert looking woman with a hank of white hair hanging in front of her otherwise chestnut locks. "How do you survive in this business without one?"

"How do you survive in this business without a ship?" asked the twitchy boy, his eyes darting from the wall of the craft, to Sally's face, and back again. "We didn't detect one anywhere around here. Unless it's cloaked, and I can't think of a cloaking device that would fool _me,_"

"What are you talking about?" Sally asked. "I don't have a ship,"

The Captain smiled, with disbelief in her cold black eyes.

"And you expect us to believe you, I'm sure."

"What shall we do with her, Captian?" rumbled the huge Brenner, from behind Sally.

"Take her back to the ship for questioning, I should think," replied the Captain, after a moment's thought. "We can't have her running back to her ship and telling her crew about this hulk. Besides, she could have all sorts of other valuable information for us."

Sally's mind was working double time.

"You can't take me," she said.

The Captain paused, her delicate eyebrow raised questioning.

"I have others – associates," Sally babbled, thinking up a lie quickly. "They'll be waiting for me. They'll come after me. You don't want a war on your hands, do you?"

Her mind automatically flew to Larry. If she could get a message to Larry, he could get help. From where, she didn't know, but he was her last hope.

"Others, eh?" said the man with the round glasses, with a smile.

"Hey, let me go!" a voice called from outside. Two men walked into view, each clamped on the arm of the struggling Larry. Sally's face fell. So much for that.

"Sally!" Larry yelled. "Sal?"

At a signal from the Captain, Larry was released. He rushed over to Sally, and hugged her quickly.

"When I heard you scream I feared the worst," he said.

Sally shook her head, and pulled away.

"No, Larry, I think the worst is yet to come," she replied, eyeing the ragtag group that stood around, watching them with eyes glittering with expectation.

_Author's Note: Three week commercial break. Sorry guys. School is kicking my butt lately. I'm going to try to update these a whole lot sooner from now on. No more big gaps. _

_Why is it whenever I assemble a crew for a space ship in my mind they end up coming out looking like the crew of Serenity? It's like they're the quintessential crew. I was trying _not_ to make the Captain like Zoe, but I think I failed. :-P _

_The idea of the babble fish of course belongs to the one and only Douglass Adams. Hey, it solves a lot of problems, like why all the aliens speak English. If this is the start of the show, might as well get these things out of the way as soon as possible. _

_More to come right after this short commercial break!_


End file.
